Elections

Global warming is an existential challenge facing humanity. Do you think Hamilton should play a role in addressing climate change? If so, what should the city be doing? If not, why not?

Responses to the question: "Global warming is an existential challenge facing humanity. Do you think Hamilton should play a role in addressing climate change? If so, what should the city be doing? If not, why not? "

In This Page:

Climate Change will not only affect us but future generations as well. There's no reason, with today's technology, we should still be polluting the way we are. Of course Hamilton should play a role. We've come a long way already and we have to continue enforcing our emission standards and hold polluters accountable.

Firstly, we should set examples by the way we operate as a corporation. Past examples of efforts that speak to our acknowledgment that this is a serious issue include, but are not limited to, City-wide street lighting transformation to lower impact L.E.D. tech, Community Energy shared heating and cooling of Downtown facilities and solar lighting installations where applicable.

We were one of the first Ontario cities to support the Blue Dot movement through a motion of Council. We also regularly support and receive guidance from our friends in outside organisations like Environment Hamilton. The environment is a priority in Hamilton as Council regularly fully supports increased actions toward polluters from our industrial core and beyond. We are demonstrating as a local governing body an awareness and belief in global warming and must continue to do so and govern accordingly.

Yes, every person, business, and government must play a role in addressing climate change. The City should be focusing on:

● Developing a Hamilton Green Standard (similar to the Toronto Green Standard , now in its third version) for new development. We need to ensure that we don’t build new structures that make the problem worse.

● Improving our air quality. We can do this by planting more trees and protecting the trees we have. If we have to remove trees we should be replacing them with more trees, not just an equal amount. This also means a protected and connected bike lane network across the entire city.

● Taking the Community Climate Change Action Plan seriously. At present, the public information available on the City’s actions in relation to this plan is non-existent. We must make sure that we’re either implementing this plan aggressively with real public targets or revisiting it to ensure that it meets more realistic goals.

LRT is one significant step but the city can do a lot more with solar energy on rooftops and developing a complete protected north-south as well as east-west cycling route. By making cycling a viable option for all ages, we address multiple goals of health and well-being, better safety, and cleaner air.

I support The Green energy act. There is always more to do with regards to Green energy. More education to residents with regards to recycling, low carbon emissions, Etc. Renewable and 100% sustainable energy needs to be the focus and future for our city. With many pressing issues, each has to be addressed and prioritized. Again, the city needs to engage experts and work collaboratively with them to move the initiative forward.